As a history major this thread has given me all kinds of drain bamage.

Whether Lincoln was racist or not is irrelevant to me. He believed that slavery was evil even before he became president and while running his platform on slavery was to stop it from spreading any farther than it already had while offering incentives to slaveholders to release their slaves. At the time this was about as liberal as you could get in regards to slavery and still be considered a legitimate candidate to win the presidency.

Lincoln did at one point support sending freed slaves back to Africa, as did many others at the time. It was seen as an answer to the race issue that involved limited conflict. There were three attempts made to do this but two failed due to political issues and the third failed because of several issues such as poor planning, an outbreak of small pocks, and a major financial screw up by the guy in charge of the colony. It's been debated whether Lincoln every really abandoned the idea of colonization as there were no more attempts at colonization made. Personal opinion I think he did, but there are plenty of arguments for him not giving up on the idea.

The US had been building up to a civil war for decades by the time Lincoln took office, he was just the straw that broke the camels back. The only way to avoid the Civil War after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise would be to allow the South to leave the Union, something that was never going to happen.

because the post office has a strong union and they wanted a paid day off

You are showing your lack of knowledge of history and how holidays come into being. No union can make a holiday.

fa·ce·tious
adjective: not meant to be taken seriously or literally.
My comment was a facetious remark. And you are technically wrong. When the union my dad belongs to had contract negotiations and the company said their pay and their benefits could get no better, the union ARBITRARILY picked the second Monday in August as a paid holiday. The company agreed. So a union CAN make a holiday.

Let's see... President's day not only celebrates Lincoln's birthday, but also George Washington- and I think some use this day to celebrate all presidents in a general sense. Also... I think the electronics stores just wanted some excuse to put up sales and have more available customers, or something. The 4th of July celebrates the birthday of our country- and it is more of a patriotic holiday... actually, it's not a holiday, is it? President's day is more of a business holiday, like Valentine's day, which is also not a national holiday. And if you think about it history wise... we had 5 or 6 notable presidents, and then a huge gap of insignificance until Abraham Lincoln, who managed to correct a wrong being practiced for centuries, and for keeping/rebuilding our country together. Don't forget- he also guided America through its first, and only, civil war. And, what about other people's birthdays, like Martin Luther King Jr., or Jesus (if you believe in Christmas)? Are you saying those people aren't important? You said it didn't make sense to celebrate someone else's birthday as a national holiday- but without that "someone", we wouldn't be what we are today. It might also have something to do with how Lincoln treated some non-whites better than other people, and helped to better their lives in this society. Because America is a "melting pot" filled with non-whites along with whites, maybe the country decided to celebrate his birthday for their sakes. By the way, the same Lincoln was able to change the date of celebration for another holiday- Thanksgiving. Why should we not celebrate his birthday? Would you rather go to school? (sorry for the people who don't have the day off)

Just to make it clear- President's day celebrates the presidents.
4th of July celebrates the country. There is a difference.

The U.S. isn't just about the president- there's still two other branches of government, arguably with more power than the president.

As a history major this thread has given me all kinds of drain bamage.

Whether Lincoln was racist or not is irrelevant to me. He believed that slavery was evil even before he became president and while running his platform on slavery was to stop it from spreading any farther than it already had while offering incentives to slaveholders to release their slaves. At the time this was about as liberal as you could get in regards to slavery and still be considered a legitimate candidate to win the presidency.

Lincoln did at one point support sending freed slaves back to Africa, as did many others at the time. It was seen as an answer to the race issue that involved limited conflict. There were three attempts made to do this but two failed due to political issues and the third failed because of several issues such as poor planning, an outbreak of small pocks, and a major financial screw up by the guy in charge of the colony. It's been debated whether Lincoln every really abandoned the idea of colonization as there were no more attempts at colonization made. Personal opinion I think he did, but there are plenty of arguments for him not giving up on the idea.

The US had been building up to a civil war for decades by the time Lincoln took office, he was just the straw that broke the camels back. The only way to avoid the Civil War after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise would be to allow the South to leave the Union, something that was never going to happen.

TL;DR Lincoln was a pretty cool guy.

Member of Phi Alpha Theta myself, thanks. And while Lincoln was indeed the straw that broke the camel's back, I disagree strongly that the war was inevitable. Lincoln was, by today's standards, a warmonger. Besides, let's see--unleashing devastating total war against a breakaway group of his own people seeking their political independence--sounds a lot like Saddam Hussein, doesn't he? And that is why I am so happy he was assassinated, and wish that it had occurred earlier (about 4 years earlier, in fact).

P-Day celebrates only some select presidents, not all of them.
Most young people these days think that it's to honor all of the presidents for some reason.
I think it's because of the usage of the word "Presidents" and not "President's" on some calendars.
Mine still says "President's", which is to signify either AL/GW, but more "Presidents Day" are being printed..

A Southerner calling for the death of Lincoln. You guys really don't get over loosing a war and your ancestors being some of most immoral bigots this nation has ever seen. Lincoln saved the union and ended one of the greatest travesties ever perpetrated by this country. It's astounding that the South is still fighting this war in 2013, thinking their bigot ancestors had a moral right to leave the union just because they were too lazy to live without slaves.

Ahhh. ....sh*t! I started to go into a tirade about how the U.S. (presidents) has FUBAR'ed people since it's inception, but deleted it. I don't have the time or the patience to write several pages. No man is worthy of a day set aside for them (holiday), especially ones responsible for the deaths/misery of many. That said, I could care less. Just like everybody else, any excuse for a day off or a party is fine with me.....just don't expect me to worship or praise whoever or whatever it is. ....